October 2022 Tom Tom

TOM TOM OCTOBER 2022

STAFF BRYAN NICHOLSON DIRECTOR OF GOLF BRYAN@SAHALEE.COM

THE SAHALEE TEAM

CHARLIE SCHAUWECKER AGRONOMY DIRECTOR CHARLIE.SAHALEE@GMAIL.COM JUSTIN KEENER CLUBHOUSE OPERATIONS DIRECTOR JUSTINK@SAHALEE.COM ADRIAN SIBUG CULINARY DIRECTOR/EXECUTIVE CHEF ADRIAN@SAHALEE.COM SIEMON SLAGTER FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING DIRECTOR SIEMON@SAHALEE.COM BRITTIANY LATHRUP MEMBERSHIP & COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR BRITTIANY@SAHALEE.COM LAURIE COLEMAN ACCOUNTING ADMINISTRATOR LAURIE@SAHALEE.COM

BOARD OF DIRECTORS SCOTT HEYDON-PRESIDENT MIKE DENTON- VICE PRESIDENT STEVE MOGER-TREASURER JOHN TINKHAM-SECRETARY JAY KIRSCHENMAN-SOCIAL LIAISON BILL BONNELL-MEMBERSHIP LIAISON NORMAN CHEUK-CHAMPIONSHIP LIAISON MARYLE TRACY-GREEN LIAISON TYLER DION-CHAMPIONSHIP/GM SEARCH CHAIR

COMMITTEE CHAIRS GOLF-BRIAN SELBY GREEN-MICHELLE HOOD FINANCE-DAWN NAYE HOUSE-BILL PHILLIPS MEMBERSHIP-HOWARD LEE RULES AND HANDICAP-JEANNE LINK JUNIOR GOLF-BEAU CLINE CHAMPIONSHIP-TYLER DION

JUSTIN STURDY PGA ASSISTANT PRO JUSTIN.STURDY@SAHALEE.COM LAURA KRAFT ASSISTANT PRO LAURA@SAHALEE.COM ADAM POOL ASSISTANT PRO ADAM@SAHALEE.COM KYLE MCPHERSON ASSISTANT PRO KYLE@SAHALEE.COM RYAN BENZEL PGA DIRECTOR OF INSTRUCTION RYAN.BENZEL@SAHALEE.COM DEVIN BRIGHAM CADDIE MASTER/OUTSIDE SERVICES MANAGER DEVIN@SAHALEE.COM KYLE DICKEY ASSISTANT CADDIE MASTER/OUTSIDE SERVICES MANAGER KYLED@SAHALEE.COM ALEXA MENDOZA FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANAGER ALEXA@SAHALEE.COM JIM PIKE PGA GOLF PROFESSIONAL EMERITUS PIKEPGA@SAHALEE.COM MARCUS KING GOLF COACH MARCUS@SAHALEE.COM

SOCIAL-LIZ PHIPPS MEN'S DIVISION-GEORGE GLAUSER WOMEN'S DIVISION-DEBBIE ACTON

Cover photo credit: Dan Lewis

The Sahalee family warmly welcomes

Cheers

TO NEW MEMBERS!

Junior Executive Lucas Kim and Judy Kwan

Social Shane and Jennifer McGeary

MemberHOURS Inspired and Meetups OFEvents OPERATION Have you ever wanted to learn to play Mahjong?

Please join us and learn one of the worlds oldest games. It’s never too late to learn something new.

We start with lunch at 11:00 on Wednesdays followed by Mahjong.

Contact Patricia Domine at 425-241-8506 or p_domine@hotmail.com to RSVP or for more information.

A Letter from our President In September Sahalee had several exceptional achievements by members away from the club that I’d like to recognize: Sahalee members took an impressive first and third in the 2022 Washington State Women’s Senior Championship. With Kim Shek claiming first place and Michelle Hood taking 3rd.

Erik Hanson won the 2022 Washington State Men’s Senior Championship.

Carter Cline won the West Coast Drive, Chip & Put qualifier. With the win, Carter earned a trip to the national championship at Augusta National Golf Club. The event is April 2, 2023, and he will compete with 9 others in his age bracket.

Honorary Member Cam Davis was arguably the International team’s best player at the 2022 President’s Cup, winning 2 of his 5 matches.

Congratulations to you all! Your success is further proof that Sahalee has the best players in the PNW. The club and I are immensely proud of you!

Past Business As indicated last month, the BOD had a lot of activity in September: a Board retreat, a regular Board meeting, and on-site GM candidate interviews.

At the retreat, the BOD discussed that our governance model is currently different from other clubs and presents some challenges. Specifically, a new president is expected to ramp-up very quickly (requiring a significant time investment by the General Manager). Combined with a typical one-year term, that inhibits continuity from year to year – potentially creating a whipsaw effect for the membership and Sahalee team. In its discussions, the Board reviewed governance models more common at other clubs and discussed if and how Sahalee might alter its approach.

Additionally, we spent considerable time evaluating potential ways to address the challenge relating to membership sales, which have struggled in the last 5 years I’ve been involved with Sahalee’s governance. As expected, it’s both a supply (too much member turnover) and demand issue. While a new GM will be valuable to helping the Board think through these issues, there are several near-term changes that the Board is considering helping address the situation.

More to come on both fronts in the future.

At its regular Board meeting, the Board approved several important items. First, the Board approved recommendations from the Finance Committee that will enable Sahalee to safely earn meaningful interest on our current surplus cash positions. With a very conservative approach (putting cash into Treasury bills) the Finance Committee and Board believe we can safely earn greater returns on our cash until we need it for designated golf-course projects (e.g., tee renovation as prescribed in the Golf Course Master Plan). Roughly speaking, at current rates we believe we can earn roughly $11,500 per month interest income on excess funds. This equates to slightly more than $20 per Regular Member per month. Our investment banker will help advise Sahalee on the best method to invest in T-bills and the Finance Committee and Board will review our balances quarterly to monitor and take advantage of the changing capital fund levels and rate environment.

The Board also approved a Finance Committee recommendation to reduce our monthly debt payment to the minimum payment required ~$42k per month (interest and principal). The excess payments we were making when savings rates were lower, will be invested per the strategy above, to gain positive cash flow net of our loan interest payment. This excess ~$8k per month will still be earmarked for future debt payments but invested currently to create positive spread for the club.

A Letter from our President The Bylaw Committee and Board are working on changes to our bylaws, which will modernize and clean up discrepancies. Topics include governance structure, clarity on the timing of director terms, membership terms, and how our financial structure works. Look for much more explanation prior to a potential vote at our Annual Meeting.

Lastly, as prescribed by Sahalee’s bylaws for the September meeting, the Board elected the 2023 President-elect – yours truly. After much consideration, I offered my willingness to serve as Sahalee’s President for a second year – this is a phenomenal Board team and we believe continuity is important with a new GM coming in soon. I was honored to learn board members unanimously selected me to serve the Club and membership for a second term.

New Business There are a few items of ‘ongoing’ business that are worth of an update: Our GM search process has brought us down to two finalists. Both candidates are amazing. Each believes passionately in Sahalee’s opportunities that lie ahead. Sahalee will be in a great position with either candidate. An announcement should be made very soon.

Discussions with the PGA of America to host the 2024 KPMG Women’s Championship are continuing as planned.

PGA representatives are scheduled to visit Sahalee later in October.

The bunker project continues, with the East nine nearly completed. A bit of extra time and care was taken on the East nine with the golf course architect to pin-point the design and be sure the bunkers were being executed exactly as planned. After slight adjustments, we are just a bit behind schedule, but we anticipate hitting our final deadline.

The annual meeting is now scheduled for November 15th (official notice will go out soon). With that comes several requirements. The Board Member Search Committee, led by past-president Dawn Naye, has done an amazing job of recruiting, and interviewing a variety of candidates. As required by Sahalee’s Bylaws, they have nominated three Board candidates to the Membership: Tom Dimeco, Kim Shek, and Peter Zobrist. All three candidates offer a variety of professional experiences and time at Sahalee that I believe will enrich the 2023 Board of Directors. Thank you to the selection committee for all your hard work.

The annual budgeting process is underway and will be in full swing during October. As you might expect, this important administrative task is somewhat time consuming. Please keep that in mind as you interact with all our wonderful leaders at Sahalee: despite the golf and social seasons winding down, they are all still VERY busy.

As mentioned above, if Bylaw changes are recommended, that will require communicating the ‘what’ and ‘why’ those Bylaw changes are being pursued. This must be done prior to any membership vote at the Annual Meeting. The Board’s intent is to be transparent into what and why behind any Bylaw recommendations to membership. We are planning on an Open Forum before the Annual Meeting to answer any questions and provide deeper perspectives.

In closing, I was honored to be asked by my fellow Board members to serve a second term as Sahalee’s President. As I reflect on the past year, yes, it has required some time investment, but getting to meet many members and feeling like we’re making improvements that strengthen the club’s strategic position has proven very rewarding. It truly is an honor to be Sahalee’s President.

Sincerely, Scott Heydon Club President

Bunker Renovation Update On the East nine, the Golf Course Master Plan bunker renovation is now passing the one-month mark and nearing completion. Led by our golf course architect, Rees Jones, and senior designer, Steve Weisser, the strategic changes and bunker reshaping will provide improved playability and dramatic visual effects as the redesigned bunkers ‘frame’ their respective golf holes and accentuate the golf course features around them.

During the renovation, each bunker moves through a step-by-step process to achieve all design and engineering goals. Sand removal and demolition is followed by rough shaping to create a ‘blank canvas’ on which Rees Jones’ team can visualize new shaping and contouring. With our architects’ direction, the ‘new’ bunkers are then shaped and hand edged to precise specifications.

Once shaped, new drainage is installed including perforated drainage in gravel within each bunker and new outfall lines to move water out of bunkers and away from ‘in play’ areas. The porous aggregate liner, which acts as a barrier between our native soils and new bunker sand, is laid throughout the entire bunker and once cured is water-tested to ensure water permeability and drainage capacity. Finally, new sand is added to the bunkers and surrounding turf areas are re-grassed. t Even as construction of the East bunkers is being completed, there is still much work to be done to prepare these bunkers for play as well as to restore all bunker adjacent areas back to acceptable conditions. The new sod around each bunker will take time to establish and new bunker sand will need to be compacted multiple times before any normal play can resume in these features.

During this maturation period, bunkers and surrounding new turf will be considered ‘ground under repair, and golf balls coming to rest in these areas are to be dropped at the nearest point of relief. For golf balls that come to rest within a bunker while it is deemed ‘ground under repair’, the agronomy team will locate a sign at each bunker to establish the acceptable golf ball retrieval entry/exit point. The purpose of this is to avoid traffic on sensitive areas that could be damaged while new turfgrass is establishing.

Bunker Renovation Update

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Upon the reopening of the East course, there will be some ongoing restoration work including resodding bunker adjacent areas, sand installation and compaction, and irrigation adjustments and modifications related to bunkering. Please excuse these disruptions to play and understand that it is critical that we push construction progress forward to ensure timely project completion. Next up will be renovation of the North course bunkers with Rees Jones returning to Sahalee during the week of 10/10 to lead in this phase of redesign.

Many long days (and nights) are dedicated to this project and we are excited to showcase the impactful design improvements to our membership!

Charlie Schauwecker Director of Agronomy

Upcoming Golf Events OCTOBER

9 SOCIAL GOLF: FALL FLING EVENT 10 WA GOLF ASSOCIATION PLAY DAY (PRIVATE) 15 SMD MEN'S AWARDS NIGHT 29 SMD FOUR BALL SCRAMBLE

Fitting Days

October 14th-12pm-4pm Sign up here

A Letter from our Director of Golf  hat an interesting weather dichotomy 2022 has been. After a very wet with below average temperatures to start W the spring, our summer, on the other hand, has been simply fabulous for golf. (Other than wildfire smoke…)

September finished as the warmest in 33 years, and capped a summer that was the warmest and driest July thru September for us in the Puget Sound. At our weather station perched at the Club, rain totaled less than a half an inch over the summer which is only 15% of normal precipitation levels. (We now know how important irrigation is for the health of our golf course and lawns!)

Rounds of golf for 2022 continue to be on the lighter side, with an approximate drop of 7% from our 5 year average, and we are tending to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 37-38 rounds of golf at the High Heavenly Ground.

That is consistent with many clubs through the Pacific Northwest, but a bit of an outlier nationally. Golf continues to be immensely popular, with rounds only down approximately 3% nationally from the pandemic highs. Even as an 18 hole course only, our September rounds of golf were boosted by the great weather, and were close to “par” from our historical averages.

Coming off the heels of our normal agronomy practices, the golf course has ‘healed’ in nicely, and will provide us with tremendous playing conditions once again. Charlie and his team spent many hours on the course with this important agronomic process. This warm and dry pattern has also greatly helped our agronomy team and Landscapes Unlimited with our ongoing bunker renovation. The teams will dot their I’s and cross their T’s they likely put a bow on East the first full week of October. We will then pivot to North next, giving us East/South to play for the next 6 weeks.

Upon opening East, many of the bunkers will be deemed “ground under repair” and their will be roping around the bunkers to remind golfers. Should your ball find one of the bunkers while playing East, you will find an ingress/egress point to retrieve your golf ball. Simply find the nearest point of relief, take a drop, and continue on with your round. We have been in touch with WA Golf regarding a special “temporary” course rating that eliminates bunkers from East. I will have much more to share with the membership on this important change as we round out the 2022 posting season.

September brought some terrific Championship level golf earlier in the month. Our Men’s and Women’s Senior Club Championship was hosted over Labor Day weekend. A hearty congratulations once again to our new Champions on their awesome strike play performances. The Women’s Championship came down to Kim Shek (fresh off her qualifying for the US Senior Womens Open), Grace Wei and Michelle Hood. Wei held the second round lead for a bit, but a consistent and steady Shek played the final 14 holes only one over par to win by 5 over Hood. Our Women’s Net Champion was Gloria Ang, and taking the Super Senior Division title was Paula Miller.

The Men’s Senior Club Championship featuring a hard charging 2020 Champion Tyler Dion. Armed with a 5 stroke lead heading into the final round, Dion closed with a 35 on the second nine of his second round to win by 3 over 2021 Champion Erik Hanson to win his second title! Jason Hart took the Net title after firing consecutive (Net) 69s, to win by 5 over Eric Nelson. The Men’s Super Senior Champion was Mike Jonson who won by an impressive 7 strokes! Pat Bettin and John Hayden shared the Super Senior Net Division crown. Congratulations again to all of our Senior Club Champions!

As we kick off fall, our golf activities calendar will begin to wind down, but there is still several fun and exciting events to participate in! Our mixed coEd Fall Fling is slated for Sunday, October 9! With the fall and Halloween theme, this Four-person scramble will be sure to be spooktacular! Our Men’s Division will have its annual awards Day on Saturday, October 15 and we will wrap up the golf calendar with a two-man SMD scramble on Saturday, October 29. We hope to see you at the Club!!

I would like to take a moment to share a change to the daily golf experience at the Club. In late September, we shifted to using white colored flags on the golf course. This was done to provide greater visibility of the flag through the long shadows that can be found at various times of the day across our green complexes. Part of the Sahalee experience will be a daily hole location chart, and we have a brand new software that our agronomy team is using to assist with this. Some of you that have played in our tournaments have seen this chart, provided by EZ Locator. Many top 100 private facilities use this software and it provides a first class experience with exact dimensions of the hole location and green depths daily. We will have hole location charts available in the golf shop, and also at the starters pavilion daily. I think you will enjoy this experience at the Club.

As we round into fall, the golf shop is fully stocked with fall/winter gear and rain jackets to get you through the cool and wet season that is ahead. Our new golf shop merchandiser, Stacie Scheffer, has done a fabulous job with our visual merchandising, and also to help provide enhancements that you will soon see to our retail operation. As a side note, Stacie’s grandfather helped to build the golf course back in the late 60s! Please drop by to say hello to Stacie and the golf professional team during your next visit. Also - we will have several great fall sales to take advantage of!

I’ll leave you this month with some more fun data/statistics to help you think about your game. A PGA Tour Pro from 180 yards in the fairway... averages the same number of shots to hole out as...A 10-index player from 40 yards in the fairway! Remember to wok on your scoring shots from 70 yards and in!! That is a key to success, and will help you greatly emit eliminate the big numbers that can plague a scorecard!

Enjoy this beautiful start to fall and I’ll see you at the Club!

Fairways and Greens, Bryan Nicholson

Fall Coaching Session with Ryan The off-season is here and it is time to improve your golf game for the 2023 golf season!

You can also use this time to prepare for the winter season in warm weather down south or for an upcoming golf trip! The Fall Coaching Session is a four-week session of lessons designed to work on your game multiple times per week with the goal of having two 30-minute lessons per week over the four-week session. These eight coaching opportunities are perfect to focus to improve one or two aspects of your golf game that have plagued you from shooting better scores.

We can use all the latest technology I have at Sahalee! I use V1 Golf video for nearly all lessons to evaluate your swing frame by frame and compare/contrast improvement. Trackman can help you understand your ball and club performance to get the best from your equipment, Quintic Ball Roll is a highly accurate system to test and improve your putting performance, BodiTrak Pressure Mat helps you quantify and understand exactly how you shift weight/pressure in your swing, and AboutGolf is a fantastic simulator when we need to be indoors due to weather.

I am limiting this session to 15 members, so sign up soon to make this off-season your most productive golf offseason yet!

Lesson Rates Single Lesson: $100 Series of 3: $285 Series of 5: $450 Playing Lesson: $225 Junior Lesson: $75 Available Tuesday - Saturday 206-683-0025 cell ryan.benzel@sahalee.com 2016 Western WA Chapter PGA Teacher of the Year 2021 GRAA Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional

Subscribe and follow Ryan on his YouTube Channel !

Sahalee Women's Division We finished off our season with Guest Day and what an incredible day it was. Beautiful weather combined with great friends and lots of fun games made for an outstanding day on the course. Congratulations to Karen Dion and Katie Olson for winning low net of the field and Michelle Hood with her guest Gretchen Klein winning low gross of the field.

It has been a great season of golf for the Women's Division with plenty of opportunities for fun and competitive golf experiences. We are already starting to plan for next year and with Marcia McAfee filling my spot as Captain it promises to be a wonderful year of golf for 2023.

I would like to thank the Women's Division Board for all their help in making sure all the competitions, prizes, food, etc were successful. The golf shop and club house staff has been amazing to work with and I can't say enough about the quality of staff we are so fortunate to have here at Sahalee.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the events this year. Your participation, enthusiasm, and input are what make our Women's Division the most successful in the region.

Please look for announcements regarding Saturday winter golf and also the Holiday luncheon we are planning for December.

Debbie Acton SWD Captain

Our Gross Winners -Michelle Hood & Gretchen Klein Net Winners- Karen Dion and Kathie Olson

SWD Fall Field Day Fun!

Overall Gross Winner: Kim Shek Overall Net Winner: Gloria Ang (not pictured) Team Honeypot Winners: Ang / Benveniste / Schneider / Leonard Horserace Winners: Shek / Siddiqui / Kain Costume contest finalists strut their stuff!

WSWGA Senior Amateur Championship Last month, the Washington State Women’s Golf Association hosted their Senior Amateur Championship at Glendale CC in Bellevue. Several Sahalee members played in the tournament, and represented the Club exceptionally well! Setting the pace for the entire field was Kim Shek, who claimed medalist honors after firing a gross 68 – 73 for a 141 total. Shek won the overall gross title by a whopping 12 strokes. Way to go Kim! Also playing well from Sahalee was Michelle Hood (157) who finished 3rd Gross in the 1st Flight, Soon Kim finished 3rd gross in the 2nd flight with a 171 total, while Jeanne Link won the Net in the 2nd flight with a 149 total.

Way to go ladies – and thanks for representing Sahalee so well!

Sahalee Players Championship Update The Sahalee Players Championship (SPC) is the Men’s College event that Sahalee will be hosting on an annual basis starting in September 2023. Co-Hosted by UW Men’s Golf, and Sahalee, the SPC will be one of the best fields in College Golf, showcasing the beauty and pure golf course that Sahalee is. The expected field includes: Arizona, Arizona State, Duke, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Stanford, Texas, USC, Wake Forest, and Washington Tournament Update – Countdown to September 2023 For those who are planners, the exact dates are September 8th – 10th, 2023. The 8th (Friday) will be the official practice round for the teams, the 9th (Saturday) will be a 36-hole competition day, and the 10th (Sunday) will be the final 18-hole competition day. Here is a summary of the latest updates: 1. Television - The tournament is in advanced stages of developing our plans for broadcasting. Right now, it is looking like the SPC will be broadcast via a premium streaming service such as Peacock. This will put plenty of eyes on Sahalee next Fall 2. Sponsorship – Our Sponsorship package is now complete and approved by the Sahalee Board. We have engaged 3 companies to date with proposals for sponsorship, and feedback is very positive. Our goal is to have a title sponsor locked by end of calendar year 2022. If anyone has ideas on potential sponsors or would like to learn more about the details of the sponsorship – please contact Bryan Nicholson 3. Volunteers – Thanks to so many of you who have already contacted the SPC team to indicate your desire to help and volunteer. We will need you all! Please contact Kevin White or Bryan Nicholson if you are interested in volunteering September 15th – SPC Preview Event Summary On Thursday, September 15th, we welcomed the entire roster and coaching staff from the UW Men’s golf team to play in a casual, light competitive round of golf with Sahalee members to connect the program and the club. The event was fully subscribed, the food was amazing, the weather was fantastic, and new friendships and connections were made.

Immediately following the golf, we had a small presentation on the SPC, and a Q&A with Bryan Nicholson, Alan Murray (UW Men’s Head Coach), and Kevin White (Tournament Chairman). For those who attended, it was an uplifting kickoff to the planning for next year’s event, and we will have more opportunities in the coming months for those of you who could not attend to learn more about the tournament, and hopefully volunteer!

Next Steps: November o First meeting of SPC Tournament Committee Meeting January o Lock on Title Sponsor Spring o SPC Open House and Q&A (Virtual) o Additional Playing Event with UW Huskies Sincerely, Kevin White SPC Tournament Chair

Krafty Games Returns!

Junior News Carter Cline punched his ticket to Augusta at the Drive, Chip and Putt regional qualifier at Pebble Beach on September 25th! He finished first overall in the boys 7-9 year old division. He will be representing Sahalee at the Drive, Chip and Putt National Championship at Augusta on April 2, 2023.